Old madam Jian recalled her youthful years. The strange doctor had visited her father and made a proposal, but her father roughly drove him out because of his humble origin. At that time, she hadn't known anything about the proposal and just kept waiting eagerly for the strange doctor come to her.
Unexpectedly, she had waited for half a year and finally, in despair, married to the Jian family under her parents' arrangement.
Until many years later when they met again did the weird doctor have a chance to tell her the failed proposal and did she know that she had wronged him.
However, the mistake lasted for a life.
Old madam Jian looked a little sad, but Mo Qianxue found it the best timing, so she looked to Jian Qingyou.
Unexpectedly, Jian Qingyou, heard hearing such a sentimental story, was still sunk in the LiangZhu story, eyes flashing wither tears.
Jian Qingyou didn't look back made Mo Qianxue a little anxious, "Grandma Jian. Although this story is fake, there are lots of stories like this in real life." Mo Qianxue meant to remind Jian Qingyou, "Qingyou, do you know any of such stories?"
Only then did Jian Qingyou return to the real world, giving nanny Liang a look and kneeling down, "Grandma, I have something to tell you."
At this scene, nanny Liang sent away all the servant girls in the room, and only she stood at the door.
Old madam Jian's mind was still wandering in the LiangZhu plot and didn't understand her behavior for the time being, "My dear You, what's the matter? Stand up."
Jian Qingyou kowtowed and began in a sad and slow voice, "Grandma, actually, I have feelings toward the eldest young lord Xin of Xin family."
"What?" Seeing Jian Qingyou both kneeled and kowtowed, old madam had known that what she was going to say would be astonishing, yet she didn't expect it was about her relationship, so she still stunned.
Jian Qingyou suddenly remembered what Mo Qianxue had mentioned in the LiangZhu story: If we couldn't live under the same roof, then we'd rather die in the same tomb! She squared her shouldered, determination burning in her eyes, "I'll only marry lord Xin."
Old madam Jian didn't know how to answer her at the moment, "What on earth is going on? You have a relationship with him? Tell me everything." This granddaughter was brought up by her side. Even she had left for a year, she was in the capital. How did she get muddled with that guy? Only marry him?!
Jian Qingyou remained kneeling, waist straight and jaw slightly raised, "Grandma, I don't dare to hide it from you. On that day I went to Hanshan Temple to pray for you… Hence, since then all that in my mind is him."
"You…you make me so mad." Old madam Jian patted the table and stood up, "I've been teaching you females virtues and rules since you're little. Why do you have so low self-esteem? I've…cough…"
Old madam Jian coughed because of the fury stuck in her throat.
Nanny Liang, standing by the side, quickly stepped forward to held her and gently stoked her back to help her breathe smoother, "Old madam, don't be mad. Be careful of your health."
Since nanny Liang had also listened to the tragic love story and felt pitiful to the poor couple, she intended to speak for Jian Qingyou, "Eldest lady has been a role model of woman. I believe it's the arrangement of heaven to let her meet lord Xin at the temple."
"The arrangement of heaven? Even if heaven arranged them to meet, when she met a strange man, she should try to avoid at once. Even if the guy saved her, she should thank him and leave at once, instead of listening to him playing the flute or dancing…" Old madam reproved, "What a public indecency!"
Seeing that old madam Jian seemed to be heading for a blind valley of conventional dogmas, Mo Qianxue smiled, "Grandma, the criticism is partly right. But I think Qingyou is a girl who knows what she wants. A relationship between people is determined by heaven. Probably, this is their fate. In addition, they have acted in accordance with rituals. It's not an indecency at all."
"Fate?"
"Yes, as the old saying goes, it takes ten years for two people to sail in the same boat; a hundred years to sleep on the same pillow; and a thousand years to spend the whole life with each other. By her confession, I believe lord Xin also loves her very much. Why not make them a couple, a real-life happy-ending version LiangZhu?"
Jian Qingyou kowtowed again, "Please grandma!"
"Mrs. Ning. That's really a good story you've told! A really good one!" The tone sounded both confirmative and ironic.
The blue vessels on old madam's hands popped up. Having life in this world for so many years, she would be a fool if she couldn't figure out the relation between the story and Jian Qingyou's pleading.
She angrily said at Jian Qingyou, "Nice! It's very nice of you! Now you know playing wits with your grandma!"
"I don't dare to."
"You don't dare? You dared to privately start a relationship with a man. And now you dared to make up stories and deceive me with an outsider…"
Old madam got increasingly angry, so Mo Qianxue refuted loudly, "Qingyou has never heard of the story. It has nothing to do with her. Please don't blame her for it. I made up this story. But I think you're very clear whether this kind of tragedy is happening or not. Just different people face a different ending."
Combining the information she had gotten from Jian Qingyou with her own deducing as well as the subtle expression change of old madam Jian when mentioning the strange doctor, and then at the thought of old madam Jian's regretful face when hearing the story, Mo Qianxue could come to the conclusion that there was be a love affair between old madam Jian and the strange doctor when they were youths.
As expected, her final words made old madam Jian silent.
In a long while, she waved her hand, "I'm tired. You can leave now."
Jian Qingyou wanted to beg further but Mo Qianxue pulled her up, greeting and leaving.
When they reached the door, from behind rang old madam's voice, "I'll reconsider your marriage with lord Wan. But I need to think about your relationship with lord Xin and talk with your parents. Marriage isn't a child's game!"
Jian Qingyou kneeled down again at the door, "Thank you, grandma!"
Old madam Jian's expression was complicated, "Leave now. I'm only moved by the story and think on your behalf. I haven't agreed yet. It depends on whether that lord Xin is a good match for you."
She did so not only for Qingyou but also to give an answer to her own regretful youthful years.
Of course, she also needed to consider what practical benefits Jian family could get from this marriage so as to achieve a win-win result.
Mo Qianxue accompanied Jian Qingyou to walk around in the garden when suddenly a servant girl came up, sending a message to Mo Qianxue that the fifth lady Jian Qinghua invited her to her room.
Jian Qingyou suspected that Jian Qingyou would stir up troubles for Mo Qianxue because she had severely scolded the two younger sister after they had misbehaved at the Ning's during the New Year visit.
Hence, she was about to turn it down for Mo Qianxue when Mo Qianxue only smiled and replied to the girl, "Since the fifth lady invites me, then please take me there."
As she replied, she released Jian Qingyou and followed the girl away. Originally, she had thought that these ladies who seldom walked out of their mansion were only attracted by Ning Shaoqing on the first sight and would forget him soon.
To her surprise, this lady was a stubborn one. Mo Qianxue was intrigued by her and decided to take a look at what the admirer of Ning Shaoqing would act in front of her.
Jian Qingyou wanted to go with her, but Mo Qianxue refused. Thinking of the fifth lady's expression, Mo Qianxue felt that it would be inconvenient if Jian Qingyou was present.
Yet, though she refused Jian Qingyou's accompany, she didn't reject her kindness by letting Siqin go with her.
Since getting back home, Jian Qinghua had been thinking of the man playing the chess and also of Mo Qianxue.
The first time she saw this woman, she dressed a half-worn dress in dark-blue, hardly one tenth as good as her brocade dress.
The second time she met this woman, she wore a new dress, still blue, but light-blue, and a plain hairpin, merely an ordinary person that was oblivious in the crowd.
The hands were long and slim but rough, not as tender as hers. The face wasn't as cute and pretty as hers either.
She thought and compared again and again and felt increasingly pitiful towards Ning Shaoqing. How could a rough woman stay by the side of an elevated graceful man?
…
Today, she heard that Mo Qianxue came, so she planned to talk to her about bigger virtues of a woman.
Jian Qinghua didn't live far from Jian Qingyou, so in a while, Mo Qianxue arrived at Jian Qingyou's courtyard.
"How do you do, Mrs. Ning?"
"I'm doing great. Thanks for asking."
Jian Qinghua put on a mask of fake smiles while Mo Qianxue looked calm.
"I heard that your husband is in poor health."
"Yes, that's right."
"But then why don't you stay at home to serve him well?" Jian Qinghua put on airs like a lady reproving her servants.
Mo Qianxue sneered. Did it have anything to do with her whether her husband was in good health or not? Mo Qianxue reasonably suspected that this woman's brain had been squeezed between doors.
"I have my own arrangement for my family affairs. I'll take care of my husband. Are you worrying too much?" Mo Qianxue's tone wasn't kind.
Jian Qinghua pulled a long face too hearing these words. She didn't expect that a village woman should dare to talk to her like this, rude and arrogant.
However, now she needed her assistance and couldn't tear up face directly, so she only poured some tea to disguise her nameless fury.
Mo Qianxue was both irritated and amused by her blue and pale face and biting teeth and lips.
What an eccentric lady this fifth lady was to blatantly ask for another woman's husband!
Was she regarding her as a soft dough that could be pressed into any shape?
Jian Qinghua took a sip of tea and suppressed her anger, forcing a fake smile again, "Mrs. Ning, have you ever thought of begging for a legal wife from a good family since you can't take care of your husband? In this way, you can have more spare time and your husband will be supported by a good family. You can both earn a good fame and assistance for your husband."
Oh damn shit! Did she know what she was saying? Let her find a wife for her own husband? A legal wife? Then what about herself?
Was this lady mentally sick or something? How did she come up with such an idea?
At the moment, Mo Qianxue involuntarily spat out the tea in her mouth right in the face of Jian Qinghua.
Indeed a rough villager. Jian Qinghua moved away to avoid the tea, but still some splash of tea fell on her face. Yet, she couldn't be mad at once and only, disgusted, wiped out the tea with her handkerchief.
Mo Qianxue ignored her behavior and didn't apologized, only putting down the teacup and asking, "Find a legal wife? I'm too foolish to understand it. Tell me more."
Wiping her face, Jian Qinghua replied, "Your husband is an extraordinary man, so naturally you, a luck wife, won't become his legal wife. If you find your husband a legal from a high-ranking family, then with her assistance and the recommendation of the family, your husband will take on a smooth path of official career, then your social status will be raised along with him."
"I'm wondering who the legal wife from a high-ranking family should be."
"Jian family is the top family in Tianxiang city and also one with good fame across Tianqi. Of course it is a high-ranking family. As for the legal wife, what do you think of me?"
Mo Qianxue hadn't known a thicker-skinned person than this lady.
Since she had made it so clear, there was no need for Mo Qianxue to bear with her any longer. If she still pretended to be polite after the lady had shamelessly proposed to take away her husband, she would really be a chick.
Mo Qianxue satirized directly, "Are you recommending yourself, lady? Yet, I won't agree. Have you learned women's virtues and rules? How can you be so shameless to long for another woman's husband?"
Jian Qinghua had envisioned a thousand kind of Mo Qianxue's reactions, including excitement, apple-polishing, hesitation or self-devaluation, but the last one she had expected was fury.
After all, which woman didn't want her husband to purchase an official career? Which woman didn't want a high social status? Did it matter that her husband had with wife and concubines?
Jian Qinghua hadn't expect either that Mo Qianxue directly fought back harshly. Her face turned pale at once and could no longer pretend to be kind, "You're the one who should learn women's virtues. You…you are a jealous wife!" (In ancient times, a jealous wife can be divorced legally by her husband.)
"So what? Shame that someone wants to be the jealous wife but wasn't good enough."
Jian Qinghua almost passed out by these words. Why wasn't she, a lady, good enough for a poor scholar of humble origin? Her lips trembles for long before she managed to speak a sentence, "You…you're not good enough for Mr. Ning!"
Mo Qianxue sneered, "Lady, on what stance are you telling me this? No matter I'm good enough or not, I'm already his wife. What about you? As an unmarried lady, you should make such a shameless plan. Are you trying to be a concubine of my husband?
If this is the case, you should droop down to beg me, his legal wife, for my permission. If not, then don't make a scene here. It won't make you a good fame to ask for a husband for yourself. Even if you don't want the face, I think Jian family still want it."
"Legal wife? You're only a luck wife. What kind of legal wife are you?!"
"If I'm not his legal wife, then you're worse. I'll feel disgusting to accept you even if you kowtowed to me!"
From rage, Jian Qinghua couldn't help shaking bodily but struggled to go on, "You are a vulgar woman! Do you know poetry? Do you know calligraphy? Do you play guqin? Do you play the chess? Shame that Mr. Ning as an excellent scholar married a woman like you…"
Mo Qianxue didn't know whether to be angry or laugh at her words. How did she know that Ning Shaoqing was an excellent scholar?
"So what?" Mo Qianxue interrupted her impatiently before she finished, "Can poetry feed your mouth?" Mo Qianxue knew far more poetry than Jian Qinghua. What a shameless woman!
"You, you…you're so unbearably vulgar!" Being refuted, Jian Qinghua couldn't withstand to talk with this vulgar woman. She picked up her tea, shouting, "Cuizhu, walk the guest out!"
Why on earth was there such a woman who completely disregarded her husband's future? After she married him, she would let Mr. Ning have a good look at the woman's true face and drive her out of the family.
Mo Qianxue doubted whether this lady had brain or not. She was vulgar? If Mo Qianxue was vulgar, then Jian Qinghua was cheap!
"Don't bother. I don't want to stay here either." Mo Qianxue felt it wasn't enough, so she added, "If you're thick-skinned enough, you can come to my house and beg my husband! Maybe he'll be kind and take you as a concubine since you're so pathetic."
"Walk her out!" Jian Qinghua couldn't bear for one more second. Of course she would visit Mr. Ning, tell him the benefit of marrying her, and show him what a good wife she would be.
She just didn't believe that he wouldn't be interested in all these benefits. And she didn't believe that Mr. Ning could tolerate and choose that vulgar jealous villager over her.